Frank Walton - REALITY (Delmark)

[JSngry]

Ok, so I'm dense...I glanced at the copyright date on the CD, saw 1993 and thought, ok, this is not all that old, and it sounds freakin' great, individual voices, nice natural feels all araound, and, just a great big NICE everywhere for everything.

Then I looked again and saw that it was recorded in 1978 and was being reissued in 1993. OOPS!

Well, ok, whatever. Walton himself is not a "great" voice, but he's a solid player who put together a nice, very varied program ranging from CTI-ish electric piano funk to some late-60-ish "advanced hard bop" to some mildly "freeish" spots. All in all, reflective of a guy whose background entails both AACM & the American Conservatory of Music. Not radical or anything, but plenty of integrity & no cliches where it would be easy to have some/many. Gotta love that!

Plus, hey - Ari Brown, Henry Threadgill, & Jodie Christian, all in fine form. 'Nuff said.

[John L]

Thanks. I somehow missed this one, and I am not somebody who would pass up any disc with Threadgill and Brown both on it.

[Chuck Nessa]

Strange coincidence, this week I pulled this lp out to play later. I was reminded of July 1978 when I was heading for NY to record The Maze, Frank gave me a session cassette from the date to give to Threadgill. As I remember, Henry was delighted.

[Stefan Wood]

It's an excellent cd.

[relyles]

Thanks. Ordered a used copy on amazon.